Britain On 6 October 1939, Morshead was selected by Blamey to command the
18th Infantry Brigade in the new
6th Division. This brigade was composed of four battalions from the smaller states, and would have been a natural assignment for a regular officer had
Prime Minister Robert Menzies not restricted commands to senior posts to
Militia officers, few of whom had much experience of the Army outside their home states. Morshead met with Blamey on 13 October to select officers for the new brigade. Like the other brigadiers, he was given a regular officer as
brigade major, in this case Major
Ragnar Garrett. Morshead formally enlisted in the
Second Australian Imperial Force (AIF) on 10 October 1939 and was given the AIF serial number NX8. He was given the rank of colonel and made temporary brigadier three days later. A delay in preparing 18th Infantry Brigade's camp in the
Hunter Region meant that it was not concentrated there until December. In the meantime its battalions trained in their home states. After the 16th Infantry Brigade departed for
Palestine in January 1940, the 18th Infantry Brigade moved into its vacated accommodation at
Ingleburn, New South Wales. As a consequence, its training proceeded more slowly than that of the 16th and 17th Infantry Brigades. The 18th Infantry Brigade finally embarked from
Sydney on the
Mauretania on 5 May 1940 but en route was
diverted to the United Kingdom owing to the dangerous military situation there following the
Battle of France. It moved into camps on Salisbury Plain, where the 3rd Division had trained back in 1916. The Australian force there under Major General
Henry Wynter was poorly equipped but the 18th Infantry Brigade was nonetheless given an important role in the defence of Southern England. In September 1940, Wynter was informed that his force would become the nucleus of a new
9th Division, which he was appointed to command. Morshead and his 18th Infantry Brigade embarked for the Middle East on 15 November, reaching
Alexandria on 31 December. Morshead was made a
Commander of the Order of the British Empire on 1 January 1941. Before his other two brigades could arrive from England and Australia, Wynter became seriously ill. Blamey decided to send him home and appointed Morshead to command the 9th Division on 29 January 1941. According to Official historian Barton Maughan:
Tobruk In February 1941, the 9th Division was completely reorganised, with its 18th and 25th Infantry Brigades transferred to the
7th Division. In return, it received the 20th and 24th Infantry Brigades, the latter short one battalion which was on garrison duty in
Darwin. The 9th Division, less its partly trained and equipped artillery, was ordered to move to the
Tobruk–
Derna area where it would relieve the 6th Division, so that formation could participate in the
Battle of Greece. The half-trained and half-equipped 9th Division was pitched into the thick of the action almost immediately, steadying the retreat of
Commonwealth forces from the newly arrived German
Afrika Korps, under General
Erwin Rommel, and occupying the vital port of Tobruk. Morshead was given command of the Tobruk garrison which, as the retreat (known to the Australians as the "Benghazi handicap") continued, became surrounded, hundreds of miles behind enemy lines. Lieutenant General
John Lavarack determined that Tobruk could be held and ordered Morshead to defend it. He also ordered the 18th Infantry Brigade to reinforce the garrison, bringing it up to four brigades, with British artillery and tank units brought up to provide support.
General Sir
Archibald Wavell instructed Morshead to hold the fortress for two months while the rest of Wavell's forces reorganised and mounted a relief mission. With the 9th Division, 18th Infantry Brigade and supporting forces from various Allied nations, Morshead's force decisively defeated Rommel's powerful initial assaults, and retained possession of the fortress. His strategy for the defence of Tobruk is still mentioned in officer training colleges around the world as an example of how to arrange and conduct in-depth defences against a superior armoured force. An important part of Morshead's tactics was conducting offensive operations when these were possible. His attitude was summed up in a reported remark, made when his attention was drawn to a British propaganda article entitled "Tobruk can take it!" Morshead commented: "we're not here to take it, we're here to give it." Aggressive use of snipers, artillery and counter-attacks achieved surprise at crucial junctures, and kept Rommel's forces off balance. The
Axis troops learned to fear the aggressive patrolling of the Australian infantry who dominated no-man's-land and made constant raids on enemy forward positions for intelligence, to take prisoners, to disrupt attack preparations and minelaying operations, even to steal supplies that were not available in Tobruk. The troops were backed up by well-sited artillery and mobile reserves. The 9th Division held Tobruk not for eight weeks, but for eight months, during which time three separate relief campaigns by the main Allied force in Egypt failed. Axis propagandists described Morshead as "Ali Baba Morshead and his 20,000 thieves", and branded the defenders of the port as the "
Rats of Tobruk", a sobriquet that they seized on and wore as a badge of pride. Morshead's men referred to him humorously as "
Ming the Merciless", and later simply as "Ming", after the villain in
Flash Gordon comics. By July 1941, Morshead had become convinced that his troops were becoming tired. Their health was deteriorating and, in spite of his efforts, their morale and discipline were slipping. He informed Generals Blamey and
Auchinleck that they should be relieved. Auchinleck arranged for the 18th Infantry Brigade to be relieved by the
Polish Carpathian Brigade so that it could rejoin the 7th Division in August but baulked at relieving the 9th Division. At this point, political considerations came into play. The newly installed government of Prime Minister
John Curtin in Australia, on Blamey's advice, took up the matter with
Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who protested that the relief would cause a postponement of
Operation Crusader. As it turned out, the operation had to be postponed anyway. In October 1941, Morshead and most of the 9th Division was replaced by the
British 6th Division. This account is contradicted, in terms of the commander's views, in the documentary
Narrow Escapes of World War II (2012) "Morshead Holds Tobruk" with a statement that Morshead objected to the withdrawal. This information is recorded here merely to advise that a contrary account exists in the only documentary account. The documentary also adds important information on this stage of the siege. A description, with footage, is given of the extraordinary replacement operation which was undertaken entirely by sea over many nights, and was completed without the Axis becoming aware of it; according to the documentary. The 9th Division moved to
Syria to serve as an occupation force, as well as resting, re-equipping and training reinforcements. The Battle of Tobruk marked a rare defeat for German armoured forces at this stage of the war. For his part in the battle, Morshead was made a
Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire on 6 January 1942. He was also awarded the
Virtuti Militari by the
Polish government in Exile and was decorated by
Generał broni Władysław Sikorski on 21 November 1941.
El Alamein (left) and
General Claude Auchinleck (right) in August 1942 The outbreak of
war with Japan in December 1941, and the imminent threat of invasion saw the 6th and 7th Divisions transferred to the Far East in early 1942. In March, Morshead was given command of all Australian forces in the
Mediterranean theatre, and was promoted to
lieutenant general, while still remaining commander of the 9th Division. and in November 1942 he was also created a
Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath.
New Guinea Campaign ,
New Guinea in 1943 After El Alamein, Morshead and the 9th Division were recalled to the
South West Pacific Area (SWPA). Morshead arrived in
Fremantle on 19 February 1943 where he was welcomed home by Lieutenant General
Gordon Bennett, who had been his divisional commander in Sydney between the wars. Morshead then flew to Melbourne where he was met by Lady Morshead, Sir
Winston Dugan and Sir Thomas Blamey, who informed Morshead that he would take over command of a corps. In March 1943, Morshead became commander of
II Corps, handing over command of the 9th Division to Major General
George Wootten. The association between Morshead and the 9th Division was not entirely broken however, as it formed part of his corps, along with the 6th and 7th Divisions, all three of which were undergoing
jungle warfare training on the
Atherton Tableland for upcoming battles in New Guinea. It was Blamey's intention that Morshead would spend some time learning the art of jungle warfare before his II Corps replaced Lieutenant General Sir
Edmund Herring's I Corps in New Guinea. Morshead's chief of staff at II Corps was Brigadier
Henry Wells, who had been his chief of staff at El Alamein. In late September 1943, Morshead was summoned to New Guinea to relieve Herring by Lieutenant General Sir
Iven Mackay, the commander of
New Guinea Force, which he did on 7 October 1943. Morshead found a difficult situation. The Japanese not only held the high ground overlooking the Australian beachhead at
Finschhafen, they were rapidly reinforcing their position and were about to mount a major counter-attack. Morshead demanded and got critical reinforcements, including
Matilda tanks of the
1st Tank Battalion. The Japanese counter-attack was crushed. Morshead relieved Brigadier
Bernard Evans of command of the 24th Infantry Brigade, replacing him with Brigadier
Selwyn Porter, who had commanded a brigade in the
Kokoda Track campaign. Unlike most reliefs of senior officers in SWPA this relief, while controversial at the time, has attracted little attention since. Adjusting to jungle warfare was a challenge for both Morshead and his men. Gavin Long recalled that On 7 November 1943, Morshead became acting commander of New Guinea Force and
Second Army on Mackay's departure to become the Australian
High Commissioner to India. This became permanent on 20 January 1944. Major General
Frank Berryman became commander of II Corps. Because of some sensitivities concerning the relative seniority of Berryman and Major General
George Alan Vasey, Blamey placed Vasey's 7th Division directly under Morshead's command. Vasey soon chafed under Morshead's command, feeling that "he has too many favourites both individually and collectively", with men who had served at El Alamein receiving preferential treatment. Morshead was in overall charge of the forces in New Guinea in the battles of
Sattelberg,
Jivevaneng,
Sio and
Shaggy Ridge. His perseverance was rewarded with the capture of
Madang in April 1944.
Borneo campaign in June 1945 Morshead handed over command of New Guinea Force to Lieutenant General
Stanley Savige on 6 May 1944, and returned to Australia, where he remained the commander of the Second Army. Despite the fact that Morshead had been in command in an active area, some critics of the government picked up on the public announcement in November that Morshead would command Second Army, and charged that he had been "shelved". On the contrary, Blamey had recommended to Curtin that Morshead should succeed him as commander-in-chief in the event that he became incapacitated. However, dealing with the politicians held little appeal for Morshead, and while he was pleased at the recognition, hoped that this would not occur. In the event, this was not the end of Morshead's wartime service, just a respite. In July 1944, Morshead was appointed as commander of I Corps on the Atherton Tableland. Although nominally a lesser command, it would be the spearhead of the Australian Army in subsequent operations. The staff was that of Morshead's former II Corps, as the I and II Corps headquarters had exchanged names. In February 1945, Morshead received word that his objective would be Borneo. General
Douglas MacArthur placed I Corps under his direct command for the operation. Morshead had to make a series of landings at
Tarakan,
North Borneo and
Balikpapan on the east and north west coasts of the island. These were carried out with great efficiency, achieving their objectives with low casualties. The British government proposed that British Lieutenant General Sir
Charles Keightley be given command of a
Commonwealth Corps for
Operation Coronet, the proposed invasion of
Honshu, the main island of Japan, but the Australian government had no intention of concurring with the appointment of an officer with no experience fighting the Japanese, and counter-proposed Morshead for the command. The war ended before the issue was resolved. == Postwar life ==